ABSTRACT
The next generation of automatic test equipment (ATE) technology, the Consolidated Automated Support System (CASS) was in early development while the Versatile Avionics Shop Test (VAST) studies were underway. CASS is now being deployed, although that deployment has been delayed and slowed owing to technology-accession problems, including technical problems in the development of Test Program Sets, in the selection of aircraft to support. The final case is the transition of VAST support to CASS and other testers while the accession and continuing development of CASS is still underway, and this constitutes a still-incomplete "Experiment 3". In addition, the CF-18 experience suggested that the size of the avionics workload was of less importance than was often perceived. It was fairly easy to attribute many of the US Navy's stockout problems to overloads in the repair cycle, especially when at sea and running full flight operations. An interdependent issue is the problem of general technological obsolescence.
